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Ferguson Casts Envious Eye at European Rivals

By Tom Williams

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted on Monday that Manchester United's push for Champions League glory is fired by a desire to make ground on their more decorated European rivals.

United tackle Schalke here on Tuesday in the first leg of their semi-final, as they bid to reach what would be their third final in the space of four years.

The three-time champions are seasoned operators on the European stage and have yet to lose in this season's competition, but Ferguson says they still have ground to make up in the silverware stakes.

"The present group has enough experience in Europe now. I think it's where we should be," said the United coach at his pre-match press conference.

"My expectation has always been high in regard to the European scene. You do get envious of other clubs' records in Europe and we're trying to get to parity with those clubs: Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Liverpool...

"We need to progress quickly to get to that level again."

United, eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Bayern last season, will be appearing in the semi-finals of Europe's premier cup tournament for the 12th time, while Schalke are novices at this stage of the competition.

Ferguson's side are therefore strong favourites to reach the Wembley decider on May 28, but the Scot says past experience suggests they are in for a bumpy ride.

"You always get apprehensive at this stage of the competition," he said.

"We've had the same situation over the years, when we played Juventus (in 1998-99). There was apprehension in the first game at home (1-1) but we released that in the second leg (3-2).

"It was the same with Barcelona (in 2007-08). We got the result we wanted at home (a 1-0 win after a 0-0 draw in the away leg) but the last few minutes were agony.

"You run the full gamut of emotion in Champions League semi-finals, because it's never easy."

Despite their relative lack of experience, Schalke go into the game on the back of an astonishing 7-3 aggregate demolition of holders Inter Milan in the quarter-finals and Ferguson was fulsome in his praise of their exploits.

"They never looked like losing the game," he said.

"That's quite a credit to them in terms of their experience against Inter Milan. Never at any stage did I think they'd lose."

United are currently six points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 1-0 defeat of Everton last Saturday and Ferguson said the team had been buoyed by the returns from injury of several key players.

"What's important is the freshness that has come back into the team in recent weeks," he said.

"(Antonio) Valencia, (Rio) Ferdinand, Anderson, Park (Ji-Sung)... It sometimes happens that way. Big competitions come along and you find all your players are fit. It gives you a selection problem, but you're glad to have them."

Striker Dimitar Berbatov did not make the trip to Germany due to a groin strain and Darren Fletcher is not yet fully fit after a virus, but right-back Rafael has returned from a knee problem to give Ferguson a near full squad.

In Berbatobv's absence, Wayne Rooney is likely to continue his fruitful partnership with Javier Hernandez, whose 83rd-minute header brought victory against Everton.

"Good players create their own platform in terms of the importance of their performances," said Ferguson.

"Wayne knows performance will always be what he's judged on. There's so much expectation on the boy. But he's stepped up to the mark for that; no-one else has done it (for him)."

Tuesday's game at Veltins Arena will see Rooney return to the scene of his sending off for England against Portugal at the 2006 World Cup, but Ferguson said it would not affect him.

"You have to put bad moments behind you and try to do better. It's a normal thing for any footballer. I wasn't aware it was in Gelsenkirchen. I actually didn't see that game." AFP

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com

Rossi ‘happy’ after GP12 test

Valentino Rossi is feeling upbeat after getting his first taste of the new Ducati GP12 at Jerez on Friday - the bike he will ride in 2012. The Italian described the new machine as ‘a lot of fun’ after completing 50 laps of the circuit, and went on to state that the engine is an improvement over the powerplant used in his current contender.

"I’m happy," Rossi commented. "I like the GP12. In my opinion, it’s more enjoyable, more fun to ride. It was the first time we had it on the track, so we had some work to do, but the engine is nicer. It’s a lot of fun, and you can do some nice slides.

"It’s the bike we’ll ride next year, so it was very important, and also very nice to be among the first to take it on the track."

Source: http://www.gpupdate.net

Bautista aiming to return at Estoril

Álvaro Bautista has set his sights on making a racing return at Estoril in May, as the Spaniard continues to recover from a broken left femur which was sustained during the season-opening event in Qatar. American rider John Hopkins took the place of Bautista for the Rizla Suzuki squad at Jerez, but the 26-year-old is eager to get back on his bike for Round 3 of the championship.

"We've been looking at the X-rays they took of me this afternoon with Dr. Villamor and it appears that the bone is forming well and there's less risk of it not healing well," Bautista told the official MotoGP website.

"We've passed the first stage, and that means I should be able to start to push on little by little and start getting stronger in the leg, because I have lost a lot of strength and with less fear I can start to move the bone and regain full feeling. That'll mean I can start exercising with a little resistance and start to speed up the recuperation process to be as quick as possible."

"It's still not 100% certain, but the only thing on my mind is returning and my aim is to do that in Estoril although it'll be a decision for the medical team. They've told me that if I continue at this pace there is a good chance, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead if I want to get back to a suitable physical condition for MotoGP."

Source: http://www.gpupdate.net

Williams plans raft of updates for Turkey

Williams will be taking a selection of new car parts to the Turkish Grand Prix next month. The ex Champion team has statistically suffered its worst start to a Formula 1 season since joining the sport in the late 1970s, although Sam Michael is confident that lap times can now be lowered for Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado.

“We had a number of new parts in China,” explained the Australian Technical Director. “The most visible one was the new exhaust system on Rubens’ car during practice.

“We saw some quite positive signs during the traction phase, but unfortunately we had some reliability issues with parts of the floor burning and subsequently causing degradation of aero performance. We’re redesigning some parts and intend to reintroduce an upgraded version of this exhaust system at the Barcelona Grand Prix.

“We are introducing a modified floor, new front wing, new rear wing and new brake ducts to both cars for Istanbul. We expect this to give us a few tenths to help our drivers get into the top ten.”

Source: http://www.gpupdate.net

Button happy with qualifying improvement

Prior to the start of the 2011 season, Jenson Button set himself the personal goal of improving in qualifying – having struggled in this area last year and been involved in a selection of racing incidents as an indirect consequence. So far this season, the McLaren driver has enjoyed two fourth-best qualifying positions and a front row grid spot in Shanghai last weekend.

“On a personal level, I've also been really pleased with my qualifying pace,” said the Frome man. “Before the season, I said it was one of my aims to improve that and I've been pretty satisfied with how things have worked out over the first three races.

“Apart from Mark (Webber)'s race in China, I think we’ve seen that it's difficult to make up ground if you're not right at the front because you're really at the mercy of a lot of other cars and their strategies; so getting qually right is crucial and we seem to be heading in the right direction.”

Source: http://www.gpupdate.net

Massa eager to fight at a higher level

The Brazilian produced an impressive display at the Chinese Grand Prix and found himself in second place for long periods. However, the decision to use a two-stop strategy backfired and he slipped down the pack in the final few laps to finish sixth - one spot ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Despite Massa's solid showing in Shanghai, Ferrari have been unable to match the pace the Red Bull and McLaren in the first three races of the season.

The 29-year-old admits the team need to improve in qualifying if they are to challenge the pacesetters.

"The result should have been a bit better than my eventual sixth place, but I was very happy with how it went and I hope I can continue to fight at a higher level for the coming races," he wrote on the official Ferrari website.

"For sure, we need to qualify better so we can start further forward on the grid which helps in the race, even with the talk of grid position being less important this year.

"In China actually my grid position, sixth, was not too bad and then I gained one place immediately after the start which moved me up to fifth. Most importantly though, if you look at the pace of the car, it was good enough to allow us to fight with the leaders."

Lewis Hamilton claimed victory in China to end Sebastian Vettel's perfect start to the season and Massa was happy to see a new face on the top step of the podium.

"In Shanghai, it was good for the sport of Formula 1 that Lewis won the race, so we don't have the same car winning every time," he said.

"However, we must not forget that Sebastian still finished second which is a very good result, which still keeps him in a good position for the championship. We have three weeks now during which everyone at Ferrari has to push hard to try and arrive at the next race, or more specifically the next qualifying, in a stronger position, so we can continue to take the fight to these guys.

"After Shanghai, we must also consider Mercedes as being part of the fight for the top places. They definitely have a quicker car than us for qualifying, but it's not yet a match for Red Bull. But it is also true that the Red Bulls suffer more than most in a performance drop off from qualifying to the race, so this could see Mercedes continuing to be very competitive now in the races."

Source: http://www.planetf1.com

Grosjean not giving up on F1

Grosjean first entered F1 in 2009 when he was signed by Renault as Nelson Piquet Jr's replacement. However, the Frenchman, who was never really given the opportunity to prove himself, was dropped at the end of the year in favour of Vitaly Petrov.

But, at the start of this season, under new ownership and management, Grosjean was handed a way back into F1 when Lotus Renault signed him as one of the test drivers.

And the 25-year-old is hoping that now that he's back on the radar, he can work his way into a F1 race-seat.

"Clearly, the idea is to get to Formula 1 next year," he told GPUpdate.

"If not, it's going to be difficult, so the goal is to get there in 2012 as a race driver; if it's not the case, we'll see what's going on.

"Being the third driver, I can get some information and I can be in the paddock with the engineers. It's very good to be third driver because you're always with the team, which is great for my knowledge and knowing everybody around a little bit."

One thing, though, that would boost his chances is if he was given the opportunity to drive the car in Friday practices.

"That would be fantastic. I'll take it for sure, if it's the case at the end of the GP2 season - because we're going to finish in September, so it's quite a long time until the next test."